Beauty: Find your focus

Lighten upWhat a wonderful summer we've had, brilliant and bright months of wellness boosting warmth and sunshine. But summer can be a season of excess, leaving us carrying some excess. Here's the easy way to lighten up.

Weighty issuesWeight isn't the issue - wellbeing is, and weight-loss is just a tool to get there. Your healthy weight and shape is unique to you and may not be the lean, mean look we often fool ourselves that we need.

Set goals specific to your body and biology. The important measures are blood pressure, heart rate, healthy cholesterol. These vary with age, gender and ethnicity so you need your doctor or naturopath to measure and interpret yours. Then comes enjoyment of exercise and the ability to recover from physical exertion, these are key to maintaining healthy weight and active living. If these are all in good shape then you are too. If not, it's time to get to work.

Fat is not the only issueEating too much isn't the only cause of excess weight, it can be affected by factors like;?Genetic makeup - number and size of fat cells in the body that are programmed into your predestined genes.Metabolism - the rate at which your body breaks down the nutrients in food to produce energy, and it varies for all of us.BMR: basal metabolic rate is key, it's the amount of calories your body uses to run normal cellular processes.

Writing is rightSet your goals, write them down. We underestimate our food intake so diary all you eat.

Find a friendEnrolling a friend into exercising with you makes it easier. Talk every day about your goals and what you're doing, get those you live with to eat like you and your success rate soars. Facebook friends count, I will happily be your weight-loss partner.I call these weight-loss winners because they never fail, put them into your daily life and you will achieve your optimal weight. Stick with them and you will maintain your healthy weight. Make this a summer to remember and lighten up before winter.

Body Mass Index (BMI)The body mass index (BMI) is calculated by dividing your weight (in kg) by the square of a person's height (in metres) e.g 60kg divided by (1.7m x 1.7m) = 20.76. The target is 18.5 - 24.9. A BMI of over 25 is considered to be overweight. But beware: it has two major flaws.

It doesn't differentiate between muscle and fat, so athletic, muscular body types are defined as over-weight.

It underestimates how much natural bulk taller people have so they may be slimmer than they realise while shorter people can be more overweight than BMI shows.

Lani Lopez BHSc, Adv.Dip. Nat.?Lani Lopez is a naturopath, clinical nutritionist, and the founder of Lanilopez.com. Email her with health questions naturopath@lanilopez.com or make her your healthy friend at facebook.com/lanilopez.com